SALEM, Ore. – In year two under first time head coach Ryan Harris, the Corban University Baseball program improved upon their overall winning percentage from the season prior and have an opportunity to do so once again this upcoming spring competitive season with a reloaded roster comprised of key returners, hopeful newcomers, and a culture-first mentality that has the Warriors primed to not just win games, but winning games the right way with humility, polish, and poise.
"I'm looking forward to this season with this group," expressed Harris when asked to summarize his 2026 outlook. "These guys are Warriors, and I can't wait to compete alongside them. They've worked hard preparing for the season in so many ways, now it's time to go out and show what we're capable of achieving."
Season Schedule/Key Matchups
The Navy and Gold kick off the 2026 season slate with a "spring training-esque" trip to Arizona to battle three formidable opponents, two of which are ranked within the top 15 teams in the country. Later this afternoon, the Warriors will toe the rubber for the first time this year against No. 9-ranked Taylor University in a neutral site contest, a program that exceeded expectations in 2025 by qualifying for the NAIA Avista World Series. Tomorrow night will be a similar matchup when they visit No. 15-ranked Arizona Christian University, a team that the Dubs met with in last year's non-conference slate and nearly knocked them off in the series finale.
Taylor and Arizona Christian are just two of the four ranked programs that Corban baseball is scheduled to face off against in 2026, as they'll visit No. 10-ranked University of British Columbia and No. 21-ranked Lewis-Clark State College on back-to-back weekends in the middle of March.
Warrior Nation supporters will have ten dates available to go see the Navy and Gold in action at their own facility, Volcanoes Stadium at Roto-Rooter Park, as they'll host a single non-conference three-game set next weekend to represent their home opener against Warner Pacific University. Fans will be able to see them in action again at the end of February and first weekend of March as they host The College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon University before a month-long stretch of contests played outside of Salem/Keizer city limits.
While they're scheduled to host Bushnell University for their annual I-5 rivalry matchup this season, stadium availability limitations have required a change in venue to the Beacons' home field in Springfield, where the Warriors will serve as the designated home team.
Corban's final two home series of 2026 will occur on back-to-back weekends in the middle of April, with April 19th against the Knights representing the team's Senior Day. They'll battle the Mountaineers in La Grande to close out the regular season the following weekend, looking to clinch one of the five seeds available in the CCC Tournament that begins on May 1st and runs through May 4th. Earning the CCC's automatic berth or being selected to an at-large bid will provide the Warriors with an Opening Round matchup in the NAIA National Tournament, with opening round site winners securing one of ten spots available in the 2026 NAIA Avista World Series.
Conference Outlook
The top of the Cascade Collegiate Conference was a back-and-forth clash through nearly the entirety of the 2025 conference slate, and another bareknuckle brawl is expected in 2026 with the CCC continually getting better from top to bottom in the conference standings. The Thunderbirds won a winner-take-all matchup to end the year at LC State, providing them with a one-game edge in the conference standings and the right to host the conference tourney. However, the Lewiston Warriors earned their revenge in the CCC Championship matchup, edging UBC 7-6 in British Columbia.
While LC State and UBC held the regular season and tourney championship titles, Oregon Tech was right in the mix for both honors as the postseason drew nearer, eventually finishing just one game behind Lewis-Clark State in the conference standings and then climbing their way through the tournament elimination bracket to finish one game away from the title matchup.
All three of the CCC juggernauts in British Columbia, LC State, and OIT saw their postseason journeys reach the NAIA National Tournament, with the T-Birds representing the lone conference program to reach Lewiston for the 2025 World Series. Bushnell and C of I were the only other members to earn CCC tournament berths, but their postseason hopeful campaigns each ended in the first two rounds of the double-elimination tournament.
That left a three-team group all vying for one of those coveted postseason seeds, with the Warriors nestled right between Warner Pac and Eastern Oregon in the final regular season standings. Only a single game separated the three programs, with the Yotes holding a four-game edge over the sixth-place team that represents a fragile divide between postseason worthy squads. While the Navy and Gold were picked to finish eighth in the 2026 CCC Coaches' Preseason Poll, nothing suggests the Warriors won't be right in the mix among their fellow conference members contending for a playoff position as they did in 2025.
Key Returners/Newcomers
Key infield and outfield positional players return for Harris and his staff in 2026 that had standout season last year, including his starting shortstop, centerfielder, and true utility knife that he can move all around the diamond. Harris introduced a 17-man recruiting class that joined 31 returners earlier this morning, all of whom possess the ability to strengthen and bolster a diverse depth chart the program enjoys at each position.
A trio of senior leaders in first baseman Peyton Rickard, shortstop/right-handed pitcher Isaac Bateman, and centerfielder Chase Elliott will represent both the vocal and play-by-example student-athletes within the Corban dugout and clubhouse, as they all appeared in over 94% of the team's contests last season to combine for over 500 at-bats, 144 hits, 28 doubles, and nine triples. Rickard was the only player to appear in all 50 games last year, holding the season-high marks in both at-bats (183) and RBI (45) while sitting top five in every other offensive category. Defensively, Rickard played all across the diamond in 2025, but Warrior Nation can expect to see him settle in for the most putouts across the entire field as the team's every day first baseman.
Bateman and Rickard anchor infield and outfield units, respectively, who are on the verge of a defensive breakthrough, as the team is loading up for what Harris believes to be "one of the best defensive teams I've coached to date". The duo played nearly every pitch together in 2025 and will have one last opportunity to do so this year as the premier defenders amid the Warrior clubhouse. Bateman is also expected to see time on the mound either as a late series starter or long reliever based on availability and matchups. Feature in the capabilities of junior Lucas Mertlich who can fulfill a variety of defensive positions but most notably carries a loaded bat a the plate, and the Corban offense is stacked full of heavy hitters.
The losses of both their day one doubleheader starting pitchers, Chris Shaffer and Josephan Gonzales, has Harris and his staff scheming a brand new rotation for 2026, which will include the return of senior right-hander Jackson Young along with numerous bullpen arms who all saw action in 2025 either as starters or relief pitchers. Not new to the team but making his first career start for Corban this upcoming series of games in Arizona will be redshirt senior Jack Kovanen, as the Wenatchee, Washington native spent the entirety of last season rehabbing from injury and is expected to rise to the occasion in 2026 as a key starting arm for the Navy and Gold.
The 17-man recruiting class will immediately make an impact for Harris and the Corban baseball program as they welcome 11 transfers with collegiate experience alongside a group of six freshmen either in their true freshman seasons or making their collegiate debuts as a transfer. Right in the middle of the depth charts and stands redshirt sophomore JC Klee, who is making his return to Corban after spending the 2023 season as a Warrior before departing to start for Chemeketa for back-to-back spring campaigns. The third baseman by trade will have big shoes to fill over at the hot corner, replacing one of the greatest bats in program history in Warrior legend Ryan Clay who completed his final season of competition last year following one of the greatest single seasons and careers by a Corban baseball player.
A pair of junior college transfers in redshirt sophomore Sean Shaffer and junior Easton Herdman will bolster an already deep outfield unit for Harris, looking to replace the defensive and offensive holes left by Fran Gross and Noah Owens, who each walked the spring commencement stage in 2025 to wrap up their collegiate careers. From and infield perspective, junior Colin McNeill and sophomore Brady Sprague provide extra options in both the middle infield and corner positions, while Sprague will also look to earn mound time as key right-hander for the Navy and Gold.
Warrior Whims (Final Thoughts)
A nearly identical schedule of opponents this upcoming season when compared to last year should provide the Warriors with plenty of "run it back" experience that they can utilize to properly adjust this time around, as only the Trojans and Redhawks represent unique matchups that will require almost exclusively day-of adjustments to be made. With 13 series rematches in store this upcoming spring, a "third times the charm" mentality for Harris and his staff appears to be on track for redemption outcomes.
The expected starting lineup and next men up in the Warrior depth charts all have plenty of collegiate experience at various levels of competition, many of whom have competed within the CCC and NAIA before and understand the difficulty spike they both provide as a season progresses. Numerous upperclassmen will be serving in starting lineups, key rotations, or vocal leadership roles throughout the season, which will represent an integral piece of Harris' culture-driven program.
Harris and his staff have assembled a roster capable of achieving more than any Corban baseball squad has ever achieved. The expectation is simple: just do their jobs as efficiently and effectively as anyone else in the CCC and NAIA, and they'll have nothing but smooth sailing in 2026.
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